Nathan Ellington, the first clerk of Coles County, was assassinated by his son-in-law, as related in a story appearing elsewhere in this paper.
His body is buried in a private cemetery known as the Ellington cemetery which is located on property of the new Charleston High School. Inscribed on his monument is the following:
“A mourning widow and children erected this monument to the memory of Nathan Ellington, who was born in Russell County, Virginia, May 31, 1805, and emigrated to Illinois in 1826. In the year 1830 he was appointed clerk of Coles County at the first organization, which office he held by appointment and election for 18 years. In 1835 he was appointed Clerk of the Circuit Court, which office he also held by appointment and election for 20 years, together with many other offices from time to time bestowed upon him by appointment and election, in all of which he discharged with great fidelity, the trust and confidence reposed in him, in health, vigor, and in the midst of usefulness to all around him. He was suddenly cut off by the hands of Adolphus F. Monroe, his son-in-law, departing this life on the 27th day of October, 1855. With unshaken confidence in the great atonement he exclaimed in a song of praise upon his dying bed. Yea when this flesh of heart shall fail.
And mortal life shall cease
I shall possess within the vial
A life of joy and peace.
Reader, learn from the life, character, and success of the deceased, that integrity, industry, and virtue are the only sure passports to the confidence and respect of mankind and an entrance into the paradise of God.”